Currently, the technical support documents of peripheral devices, such as printers, are generally included on a CD Rom. The control panel of the peripheral device provides some control panel messages, which tend to be very short messages. As a result, they are usually not very informative or helpful. However, these messages tend to be shorter because they are generally stored in the firmware of the peripheral device. Firmware, which is generally used for peripheral devices, is software responsible for the operations of the device, and it is stored in read-only memory (ROM) or programmable ROM (PROM). However, the storage capacity of the ROM tends to be very limited. Users are, then, forced to access the technical support document located on CD Rom for troubleshooting solutions when confronted with an error message displayed on the device.
The problem with this prior method is that it is not always clear to the user which technical support documents are relevant for a given error or control panel message. This is especially true for typical users. Users generally do not have the technical background needed to make such a determination. Consequently, it would be extremely helpful and desirable if the peripheral device itself can provide users with the relevant technical support document for each particular error message displayed. There is obviously a need for an improved method that can provide more direct technical support from the actual peripheral device.